I hate that question. I don’t have a solid logline, which bothers me more than I can express in words. The 30 second elevator pitch – it shouldn’t be that tough. I know the story and the characters. Really, I should be able to tell someone what makes my script so cool. People keep taunting me with the question “what’s it about”.

It’s not hat I don’t know, it’s just tough to put into words. Well, tough to put into 20 words.

My stoner comedy was easy – a guy inherits a laundromat and moves in with his slacker friend – I call it Suds and Buds. Pretty much a sentence that explains the overall feel of the script (stoner comedy) tells you the situation (in a laundromat) and paints a pretty decent picture of what the story’s about. If their eyes haven’t glazed over, I tell them there’s a romantically challenging aspect and a dog named Hummer.

I heard a podcast about loglines that said the first step in a “logline quest” is to describe the story. This starts me with my first challenge.

My script is the first episode of sci-fi TV series. The design of the show has the feeling of an anthology, like Twilight Zone – basically a bunch of stories that are tied together by location. There are some characters that appear in more than one story – a character might show up as a minor character in a story, but later in the season be the star of their own story. For me, the show is less about the specific stories and more about the “place”. The only common element in all of the episodes will be the lawless city that my characters inhabit. Sort of like Deadwood, where everyone is a criminal of some sort.

Every time I try to write something I can hear that guy that does the movie trailers: “In a world … where there is no absolute right or wrong … where everything is painted in shades of gray …”

Things are still forming, I’ll let you know if I figure this piece out…

Yup, less than a week into ScriptFrenzy and I’m already behind my goals. I like to set my sights above what’s requested of me (like targeting 200 pages instead of 100), but I can’t even manage to write a couple pages a day.

Mostly this is a side effect of the Big Huge deadline that I have with work. When you work 60-70 hours a week, the time you’re not working is sort of “sit on the couch and drool” time. I have a ton of notes about what I want to write and keep adding more notes, so I’m kinda-sorta making progress. But when you look at the ScriptFrenzy Zero Pages bar it feels like I’ll never make my goal. Or even their goal.

I feel pretty lucky that my friends and family support my time writing, but when they ask if they can help, there’s not much anyone can do unless they can alter time or speed up my deadline. Or maybe teleport me off this rock.

“Write 100 pages of original scripted material in the 30 days of April.”

ScriptFrenzy. I did it last year, can I do it again? It wasn’t easy, in order to have enough time to write, I took a couple weeks off of work. I was able to pull it off with the help of my mojo – it was sitting on my desk, next to my muse and a case of Dr Pepper.

The thing I was missing last year was a clear focus – the short version: I started on a weak action film and figured out how little I knew about the mechanics of writing a script. I took a step back and wrote some TV scripts.

This year I have a much stronger start. I have a clear idea for what I’m going to write and an overall feel for the beginning, middle, and end. More on that later.

“Prizes: Happiness. Creative juices. Pride. Laughter. Bragging rights. A brand-new script.”

The biggest thing about writing a script is the finishing. Plenty of people have a “great idea”, but when the work starts they lose interest and go watch cartoons. The group that rolls up their sleeves and (good or bad) finishes 100 pages? Those are the writers.

Against all logic, this is why I want to write a script – because I don’t have the free time and a full day of work leaves me too tired to do anything except operate the remote.

“Your ticket to creative adventure.”

What the ScriptFrenzy folks don’t say is that it really helps to have other people read and critique your work. During my day-to-day existence as a programmer, I don’t run into very many creative people, the type of people that you can chat about the best way to structure a log line. The “community” aspect of the site really helps.

So look me up on the ScriptFrenzy site and send some encouragement. And by “encouragement”, I mean “Dr. Pepper”.

Writing Don’t #208

Something huge I learned over the past couple months – don’t stress about formatting your TV script to emulate the show’s format.

I spent a fair amount of time downloading “real” scripts and trying to style things so that I could match what the staff writers created. I was worried that I wouldn’t use the right names for locations or that I’d mess up the way flashbacks or digital zooms were handled (like CSI).

It’s a complete non-issue, since the TV scripts that you write are only useful for contest entries and writing samples. And the people who are on the writing team for the show you’re spec’ing are never going to read your script. Ever.

As a rule, the people that read your script won’t be familiar with the show’s conventions. So don’t worry about what the proper name is for the “space behind the interrogation room’s one way glass” – just call it something logical so the reader can follow.

Had a great New Year’s – staying up late with fireworks and champagne is the best! I read that a few friends couldn’t make it to midnight and I’ve coined the term celegraytion – the inability to party later than eight o’clock.

I don’t really make “resolutions”, I’m always adding new things (projects and/or goals) to my pile. Having said that, 2010 is the “year of writing”.

Did I mention the contest? I’m deep in writing mode for this project, a two hour spec pilot about a bike messenger with Asperger’s. It’s a clever story and I really like the characters.

There’s a lot in the script. Aside from introducing the characters, the worlds, etc. there are two crimes. Not a huge deal, but having our hero bounce from one to the other was more difficult than I thought.

Anyway, a couple more weeks and it’ll be sent off and I get to look into the other spec scripts I’m writing.

So busy lately, mostly doing real paying sort of work. It’s a good thing, since I have a mortgage and all, but it’s kept me from all my other projects.

Worked on a fun video project with Vanessa the Clockwork Holiday

I also managed to get my old Chistmas Story video online. I made it a couple years ago, but it still amuses me.

The other big project that I’m working on is a script for a contest. It’s a two hour TV pilot, a procedural show that involves a woman that solves crimes. I’ll share more when I have time, but it’s looking like a pretty tight deadline.

And one thing that I haven’t done? Christmas shopping. We’re expecting a blizzard tomorrow, which will probably affect my ability to take care of that tomorrow and maybe even Monday. I’m working on cancelling Christmas, which would help.

On the bright side, being snowed in will give me some more time to work on my script.

My New Year’s resolution – 10 spec TV scripts in 2010. 10 in ’10!

It’s a crazy aggressive schedule, but I can do it. There are a lot of programs that I would enjoy writing for, I’ll probably start with Drop Dead Diva and you know my love for Castle. After the success of my scripts for The Office and Psych, I’ve realized I can write humor and I enjoy a good procedural. I’ve also realized that writing a sitcom is hard, that I’ll probably stick to the procedurals.

The reason I’m waiting until next year is that I’m busy with another writing project. More when I have time, but it’s a two hour TV pilot for a contest in 8 weeks.